Gary Neville has changed his initial top-four prediction for the Premier League season, joking that it is the ‘first time in about 15 years’ that he has had to remove his beloved Manchester United.
Arne Slot has enjoyed an outstanding start to his reign as Liverpool manager, with the Merseyside giants sitting two points clear, with a game in hand over their title rivals, at the top of the table.
But second-placed Chelsea could leapfrog Liverpool with victory over Everton on Sunday, with the Reds facing Spurs at the Tottenham Hotspur later that evening.
Last year’s runners-up, Arsenal, and this season’s surprise package, Nottingham Forest, sit third and fourth respectively, while Manchester City have endured a wretched start in defence of their fourth straight title last term.
Having managed just one win in seven in the top flight, Pep Guardiola’s champions are languishing down in fifth and will be desperate to return to propel themselves back towards the summit by beating Aston Villa this weekend.
In August, Neville predicted that Arsenal would go on to end their 21-year wait for the Premier League title, while backing Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea to make up the rest of the top four – in that order.
But on the latest episode of The Overlap US’ It’s Called Soccer, the ex-England right-back delivered his updated top-four prediction – and there was no longer a place for the Red Devils, who sit 13th after 16 games.
‘I’m going to go with Arsenal [to win the title] on the basis that I think they’ll hit their form,’ Neville said.
‘They’ve got a decent run of fixtures over Christmas, I think they’ll get within a couple of points, a few points, and I think they will hit their form in the new year and I do think they will win the league this season.
‘Top four… I’ve not got full faith in Tottenham, Aston Villa and, to be fair, Nottingham Forest, Bournemouth and all the other teams that are in and around it.
‘I think it will be City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal at this moment in time. It’s the first time I haven’t said United will be in the top four, I think, in about 15 years!’
Turning his attention to the other end of the table, Neville predicted that those teams currently in the drop zone would be relegated down to the Championship at the end of the season.
‘Relegation… Southampton, definitely, I think Ipswich will go and I’m going to say Wolves,’ the eight-time Premier League winner added.
‘I watched Wolves against Liverpool and, to be fair, Liverpool weren’t great in the game at all but they didn’t have to be and Wolves were absolutely awful and I thought, “Oh no!”.
‘So I think Wolves are probably gonna go, unless they can do something in the January transfer window.’
Shortly after revealing his predictions, Neville’s long-time partner in crime, Jamie Carragher, lifted the lid on his forecast for the season ahead.
‘I’ll go for Liverpool [to finish as champions] and Chelsea second because they’ve got no Europe,’ the former Liverpool defender explained.
‘So I’ll go with Chelsea, I’ll go with Arsenal and I’ll go with Manchester City.’
Pushed for his prediction at the wrong end of the division, Carragher added: ‘I’m going to go with the three teams who came up [Southampton, Ipswich and Leicester].’
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